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Behind the bar at Oakland’s Agave Uptown, Leo Lopez grabs a green bottle, embellished with an inky handprint, and pours a slow stream into a small black clay cup. It looks like a tequila shot — but it’s not. It’s mezcal, an agave spirit with a 500-year history.

Now tequila’s smoky cousin is coming out of the shadows, riding a popularity wave that has made it the Bay Area’s hottest spirit.

“Mezcal is tequila’s grandfather,” says Marcella Macias, who runs the bar program at San Jose’s Mezcal restaurant, which offers more than 90 mezcals made from different agave varieties. “The biggest misconception about mezcal is that it is tequila. It is not.”

Bay Area craft cocktail enthusiasts and mixologists, such as Macias and Lopez, have embraced mezcal’s varied, distinctive flavor profiles. While tequila is technically a mezcal — one made only from blue agave — mezcal can be made from 40 to 50 different agave varieties, which results in more than just the classic smoky drink you think you know. Artisan mezcals can have citrus, tropical, earthy or nutty flavors, with just a hint of smoke.

Now Bay Area bartenders are putting their own spins on this south of the border spirit, serving mezcal flights, as well as cocktails.

Bartender Leonel Lopez mixes a mezcal cocktail at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

The exterior of Agave Uptown is seen in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

The Mole Sour cocktail is made with mezcal, egg whites, agave nectar, lime and decorated with aromatic bitters at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the the Mexican state Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Bartender Leonel Lopez displays a flight of mezcal served in hollowed-out fruit seeds called jicaritas at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

A variety of mezcals are seen at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the the Mexican state Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Bartender Leonel Lopez pours a flight of mezcal at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

The El Mixteco cocktail is made with Don Julio tequila, mezcal de pueblo, spicy tamarind, pineapple syrup, lime and orange at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. It's served with dried grasshoppers, left. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Bartender Leonel Lopez, right, waits on patrons at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

A flight of mezcal is served in hollowed-out fruit seeds called jicaritas at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

The Benesin anejo mezcal, left, and reposado mezcal are seen at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the the Mexican state Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

A sampler platter called the Huitzilopochtli is paired with a flight of mezcal served in hollowed-out fruit seeds called jicaritas at Agave Uptown in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

The Mezcal Vago Ensemble el Barro, left, and Espadin are seen at Agave Uptown in Oakland on Thursday, Oct. 13. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Bartender Leonel Lopez mixes a mezcal cocktail at Agave Uptown in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Alipus, foreground, and Benesin brand mezcals, top, along with a bottle of San Juan del Rio mezcal, top left, are seen at Agave Uptown in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the the Mexican state Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Marca Nega arroqueno, left, and tepeztate mezcals are seen at Agave Uptown in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. The restaurant specializes in small-batch artisanal mezcal from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

“I would not put any of these mezcals into a cocktail,” Lopez says, pointing to an array of Oaxacan mezcals lining the Agave Uptown bar shelves. “These artisan mezcals are meant to be sipped.”

He prefers the spirit straight, so he can appreciate the berry, tropical fruit or grassy herbal notes, or the almond or baking spice flavors — and the smokiness. Depending on the variety and producer, that smoke can be subtle or pronounced.

“I love this mezcal, because I love plantains,” Lopez says, describing a Marca Negra Arroqueño made with maguey Arroqueño, a wild agave variety. “I get plantain flavors from this.”

Those characteristics come from the maguey (agave) variety, its terroir — the soil, the terrain and the climate — and whether it was distilled in copper or clay pots. Add barrel aging, and mezcal becomes a caramel or toffee-colored spirit — unaged or joven mezcal is clear — with complex nutty, caramel notes. If you were doing a blind tasting, you might think anejo mezcal, which is aged about two years, was bourbon.

Mezcal’s smokiness comes from the baking process — yes, the agave is baked before distilling. Mezcaleros (distillers) bake piña (agave hearts) in covered earthen pits, lined with oak and black volcanic stones, for two to five days. The baked agave is ground by a stone wheel, pulled by donkey or horse, and fermented in a open wooden vat. Then it is distilled twice in a clay or copper pot still — unless it’s tequila, which is distilled once.

What emerges is pure agave spirit, that runs 90 to 100 proof. Each batch is slightly different. And that’s what mezcal fans love.

“It’s a new cool thing that appeals to the younger generation,” says bartender Daniel Veliz at San Francisco’s Hog & Rocks. “Whiskey and Scotch are their grandfathers’ and fathers’ spirits. Mezcal is the spirit they stumbled upon.”

This Mission watering hole bills itself as a whiskey bar, but according to Veliz, “any bar that calls itself a craft cocktail bar must have at least one mezcal cocktail.” Veliz has three.

Both Veliz and Lopez use Benesin’s mezcal, which has Northern California connections, in their cocktails. Benesin mezcalero Efrain Nolasco travels from his Santa Rosa home to San Juan del Rio in Oaxaca to make his mezcal. Benesin was the first mezcal to be certfied organic by the USDA in 2006. Nolasco makes joven (unaged), reposado (aged for eight months) and añejo (aged for two years) mezcals.

Mezcal can be pricey, because agave plants take eight to 20 years to mature. While Benesin’s añejo is $48 per bottle and his joven is $35, rare mezcal varieties can reach upwards of $200 per bottle, with shots priced at $15-$40. Some carry vintage dates or single-village origin. Most mezcal bottles are numbered and signed by the maestro mezcalero. (And if there’s a worm in that bottle, back away. That’s not true mezcal. That’s lighter fluid.)

If you’re new to mezcal, Lopez suggests trying a cocktail first. At San Jose’s Mezcal, Macias recommends starting with a flight of mezcal espadin — espadin is the most common agave variety. And mezcal’s complexity, they say, is a perfect match for any mole dish.

“There is so much to learn that some people are intimidated by it,” Hogs & Rocks’ Veliz says, “but others who are pretty nerdy about craft spirits are excited by how nuanced mezcal can be.”

Where to sip mezcal in the Bay Area

Mezcal is popping up on cocktail menus across the Bay Area. Here’s a sampling of stellar choices:

Mary Orlin is the wine and food writer for the Bay Area News Group and a James Beard Award and Emmy award-winning journalist, Certified Sommelier and WSET Advanced certified wine professional and frequent wine judge. Prior to joining the newspaper group in 2014, Mary contributed to local and national wine publications, and produced the wine TV show "In Wine Country" on NBC for nine seasons. Mary's journalism career began at CNN in Atlanta. She enjoys cooking and traveling throughout the world's great wine regions.